Cross-Cultural, Multi-Cultural, and Intercultural Issues

Our aim in this chapter is to demonstrate how, and why, researchers and practitioners may benefit through embracing and learning from the diverse approaches taken to studying cross-cultural, multicultural, and intercultural issues. We do so by examining the study of integration, a process in which individuals maintain their cultural heritage while also engaging in a shared process of learning the dominant cultural norms of their community. Integration has been widely promoted as the most conducive form of acculturation for newcomers to a community. The chapter begins with a brief overview of how researchers have used cross-cultural and cultural sport psychology (CSP) approaches to examine how sport and physical activity contexts may foster integration and what their findings have revealed. The unknown is then explored through five major questions that can guide future researchers in their work alongside those with whom they wish to learn from.